"Herrmann's collation of images is fluid and cunningly timed (or anti-timed) with the music. He has a true director's ability to evoke beauty from the unlikely" -- International Record Review

This remarkable silent film by German director Oliver Herrmann (1963-2003) was presented with the award for Best Foreign Film Award at the 2004 Beverley Hills Film Festival. With music provided by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic, this DVD provides a revolutionary new take on Stravinsky's savage score.

Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps was inspired by prehistoric rituals as well as by a dance performed for the Slavic god Yarilo. Here the story is transposed to the realm of Santeria - one of the few still practiced archaic religions. The material world is represented as an emotionally impoverished big city, while the spiritual world is symbolized as a tropical island where the Santeria rituals are still practiced. The coupling of Stravinsky's revolutionary music with the ancient rituals and symbols of the Santeria religion creates a framework for the story of three individuals, oppressed by the pressures of everyday life, who experience personal sacrifice and transformation in the course of a Santeria ceremony.

"This whole issue extends the boundaries of interpreting vocal works on DVD. I hope others find it as riveting an experience as I did and that it may be the forerunner of many similar reworkings of familiar pieces" -- The Gramophone